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Kicking off Season 5, the HigherEdJobs Podcast returns with a robust dialog on navigating incapacity within the job search. Co-hosts Andy Hibel and Kelly Cherwin welcomed Emily Ladau — incapacity rights activist, author, and writer of “Demystifying Incapacity” — to debate her understanding of exhibiting up authentically in skilled environments as the entire particular person that you’re. Ladau acknowledged from experiences inside her private life and advocacy that incapacity isn’t one thing to “overcome” however part of one’s identification. She inspired listeners to not conceal or diminish who they’re as they search work. As well as, she additionally shared that incapacity may be an asset.
The episode lined a number of the most typical — and typically awkward — questions job seekers with disabilities face: whether or not to reveal a incapacity on job purposes, tips on how to thoughtfully handle lodging wants through the hiring course of, and avoiding the entice of being characterised solely by one’s incapacity throughout employment. Ladau’s response was clear: Disclosure can carry danger given the established order of bias, however hiding one’s identification can result in challenges of poor office relationships, strained psychological well being, and issue accessing lodging and assets. Ladau invitations listeners to ask not “is it secure to share,” however “is that this an atmosphere the place I can thrive if I am unable to be genuine?” The episode additionally addressed the two-way road of employment. Candidates can body the way in which they current themselves, however simply as importantly, employers are accountable for constructing workplaces that present assist and genuine environments for disabled professionals.
Ladau reminded listeners that job seekers aren’t simply being ignored — they, too, are judging whether or not the establishment lives as much as its values of inclusion. Andy and Kelly added their very own reflections, with Andy sharing a very private story concerning dwelling with a bodily incapacity. Narratives which are distinctive and private are highly effective methods to handle stigma as a collective pressure. Ladau reminded listeners that there are greater than 1 billion folks on the planet dwelling with disabilities and that no two experiences of a incapacity are alike.
Which means every narrative that’s instructed is an extra brick that varieties the pathway to real accessibility. This season opener reminds employers and job seekers alike that incapacity is a pure a part of the human expertise and that true dedication to inclusion means creating workplaces the place everybody can present up authentically.
As a reminder, the total transcript of each HigherEdJobs Podcast may be discovered by clicking on ‘transcript’ subsequent to the episode’s present notes
